Überlegungen zu den Opern von Alessandro Scarlatti nach 1702

This essay discusses Alessandro Scarlatti’s late operas, from Tito and Tiberio (the last ones composed for Naples in 1702) to Griselda (Rome 1721). It considers the musical settings fully ascribed to Scarlatti, leaving aside revisions and pasticci. Some preliminary thoughts are offered on the principal elements of plot and on the models and their adaptation in the case of long-standing librettos. Following this excursus, the interactions between music, word and gesture are examined in four operas: Mitridate (Venice 1707), L’amor volubile e tiranno (Naples 1709), La principessa fedele (Naples 1710) and Telemaco (Rome 1718). This choice is the result of a combination of pertinence and necessity, paying attention to timelines, places, genres and the availability of complete scores rather than single arias or collections of arias. A separate section deals with comic scenes, while the questions of dramaturgical choices and compositional means are addressed as transversal issues. The final part explores the introductory sinfonias; situations having a visual impact calling for instrumental insertions; instances that accommodate obbligato recitative; the use in arias or ensembles of special instrumental colouring (wind instruments or instrumental soloists) or changes in meters and tempo, in relation to concepts, characters or feelings; the juxtaposition of rhythmic variability with symmetrical treatment.